Liev Schreiber Feathers His Nest in New York City—Rooftop Chicken Coop and All

With help from AD100 firm Ashe Leandro, the actor and his wife, Taylor, expand the bachelor pad he’s held since 1998 softening its hard edges for their broodTaylor and Liev Schreiber with some of their chickens in their Noho loft’s rooftop garden, which was designed by landscaping firm Brooklyn Grange. Liev (wearing a Vince shirt and James Perse pants) sits on a Diamond Chair by Harry Bertoia for Knoll from Design Within Reach. Taylor’s dress is by Chloé. Fashion styling for Liev by Dolly Pratt Lanvin and for Taylor by Alicia Lombardini.Taylor’s hair by Clay Nielsen for Tracey Mattingly, and Makeup by Lisa Aharon for The Wall Group.With his day-old stubble and the tough-guy bearing of someone who has spent decades portraying fearsome characters like Ray Donovan and the X-Men’s Sabretooth, Liev Schreiber doesn’t look like a man who is afraid of anything. But he has a confession to make. “I’ve always been terrified of chickens,” he says. “They look like dinosaurs.”It’s not clear why someone who lives in a NoHo triplex would even mention his phobia of fowl—until Schreiber climbs the blackened-steel spiral staircase to the roof. There, wisteria blooms on trellises, raspberries ripen on bushes, a cold-plunge pool commands sweeping views of downtown Manhattan—and a chicken coop looms in the corner.Liev hangs back as his wife, Taylor, tosses a handful of worms inside to Grandma, Sizzurp, Fern, Pico, and Miu Miu—a clucking brood whose eggs are packed into custom cartons stamped Hazel’s Hens, named for the couple’s toddler daughter, Hazel Bee. Visitors often leave with half a dozen.Naturally, the chickens were Taylor’s idea. When she joined Liev in the apartment he has owned in one shape or form since 1998, she had two requests: soften its man-cave edge and create an outdoor refuge reminiscent of the corn and soy farm where she grew up in South Dakota. “We had sheep and pigs and chickens,” she recalls. “So making a green space on the roof was really important to me.”In the living room, a vintage DS-600 Snake sofa by De Sede curves around a circa 1970 T22 L’oeil elm coffee table by Pierre Chapo. Scout, the family dog, rests on one of a pair of 1960s armchairs by Joseph-André Motte for Artifort. Walls painted in Benjamin Moore’s White Dove; rug by Nordic Knots. Artworks include a piece by Mantua Nangala (above sofa), a screen print by Jonathan Safran Foer, and sculptures by Jill Platner. ART: © Mantua Nangala / Copyright Agency. Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, 2026. Jonathan Safran Foer / LeRoy Neiman Center for Print Studies, Columbia University.A 1960s Taraxacum cocoon pendant by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni for Flos hangs over a custom dining table surrounded by vintage walnut grass-seated chairs by George Nakashima. A 1956 Pablo Picasso white earthenware plate is displayed on the plaster chimney breast beyond. ART: © 2026 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. © 2026 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.A Waterworks tub and fittings anchor a bathroom. ART: Anton PerichIn the family room, a bespoke sectional sofa wraps around a custom ottoman resting on a wool-and-mohair rug by Makrosha; painting by Jan Frank. ART: Jan FrankTo effect the transformation, Schreiber turned to the same pair he tapped for his apartment’s last iteration: designers Ariel Ashe and Reinaldo Leandro of the AD100 firm Ashe Leandro, while Eric Sheffield served as consulting architect. He met the New York–based duo when they designed a duplex for him and his former partner, actor Naomi Watts. After the couple separated—amicably—Schreiber moved back to the bachelor pad that he had previously renovated “on the cheap” with his brothers, a stonemason and a carpenter.The Yale drama school graduate had purchased a one-bedroom apartment in the building in NoHo—in a 19th-century Neo-Grec former industrial space—after a role in Nora Ephron’s movie Mixed Nuts earned him enough money for a down payment. He appreciated its proximity to the Public Theater, where he was performing in Shakespeare plays. As his acting career flourished and he had children, Sasha and Kai, they annexed the two-floor apartment below and created the triplex.His original DIY decor had suited him fine, but later, when the children started splitting time between two homes, he decided to upgrade the space and enlisted Ashe and Leandro to help. “I was so impressed at how it turned out,” he says of the renovation. “I never dreamed I’d have a home like that.”Serving as an architectural centerpiece, the blackened-steel spiral staircase ascends to the rooftop terrace. Hens Pico, Miu Miu, and Grandma made a rare appearance indoors for the photo shoot—violating Liev’s strict house rule. In Hazel Bee’s nursery, a custom wooden crib is sheltered beneath a canopy made of linens by Rose Uniacke and Howe London. Lighting includes a fabric pendant by Tore Ahlsén and 1970s Uchiwa sconces by Ingo Maurer; walls painted in Farrow & Ball’s Dorset Cream. Liev (in a Rag & Bone sweater and jeans) and Taylor (wearing a Loro Piana blazer, shirt by The Row, and Celine jeans) on the vintage De Sede Snake sofa in the living room. ART: © Mantua Nangala / Copyright Agency. Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, 2026In the kitchen, stained rift white oak cabinetry and an island topped in Caesarstone contrast with blackened-steel upper cabinets with fluted glass doors and a matching steel hood. 1950s Radiohus pendants by Vilhelm Lauritzen for Louis Poulsen; PROP stools by Dennis Marquart for OX Denmarq; Lacanche range. When Taylor came into the picture, she loved the apartment, even if it was a bit hard-edged for her taste. But once Hazel Bee arrived, it felt too small. The couple searched Manhattan and Brooklyn for a larger space, but nothing felt right, and Schreiber couldn’t imagine leaving the neighborhood he’d called home for decades. Once again, the solution was right at his doorstep: a neighbor sold them her two-bedroom apartment. “The challenge,” says Leandro, who once again got the call, “was to combine everything into a four-bedroom without it feeling like a rabbit’s nest.”The designers turned a layout that felt like a LEGO expansion set into a cohesive blueprint for urban living. The lowest level, which once held the kitchen and living room, was refashioned as the family’s personal space, with a bedroom for each of the three children, a new family den, and a home office for Schreiber where he writes screenplays and records voice-overs. He is currently starring in the new Apple TV crime series Nocturne, which debuts later this month.The expanded floor above now encompasses the public spaces, including a living room where a de Sede Snake sectional coils under soaring ceilings and a kitchen where Taylor whisks eggs into omelets at her new Lacanche range and Schreiber offers up coffee. “I’m told I make a very good cappuccino,” he says. Confirmed.A built-in dark wood bookcase anchors a corner of the family room; No. 276 swivel chairs by Ruemmler, Miami floor lamp by Adelie Ducasse, artwork by Ronnie Tjampitjinpa. In the primary bedroom, the custom bed features a headboard with personalized embroidery by SAVED New York depicting key moments in the couple’s relationship. Grajales Night Stand by George Nakashima Woodworkers; vintage Danish chair in mohair; Leleu hand-knotted rug. For the primary bedroom, also situated on this floor, Ashe commissioned a linen headboard with custom embroidery by SAVED New York that relates the family’s story—from Broadway’s Booth Theatre, where the couple first met, to Hurley’s, the Times Square pub where they had their first date. “We rehabilitate raccoons on Long Island, so the artist depicted us as a raccoon family, which is very sweet,” Taylor says.In renovating the space, Leandro leaned into its historic texture, exposing brick walls and the charred wood beams in the family room, and stripping off drywall to reveal the original ceiling structure on the upper floor. “We wanted to get down to its bones,” he says.Which is also why they chose blackened steel for the entry’s statement staircase, which was fabricated on-site and echoes the rugged ambience of window trims and kitchen cabinets in the same material. The stair—Leandro observes that it is closer to a pill shape than a true spiral—ascends to their roof garden, which doubled in size after the renovation and was landscaped by Brooklyn Grange.The open-plan second level flows from the living room past an Essex grand piano by Steinway & Sons into the dining area. The lush roof garden features custom wooden outdoor dining furniture, corten steel planters, and panoramic views of downtown Manhattan. With four strong personalities at the table, everything was a negotiation, including whether to put the fireplace in the living room or the kitchen. The latter was Taylor’s preference, and she won the day. “I think we went through 10 versions of the kitchen,” Ashe says.It’s a testament to the process that the couple and their designers have become close. “They’ve really become our friends,” Liev says. “I love to argue with Ariel—it’s really fun. She has such a sophisticated design sense. And Rei has such a practical mind. I find him very calming.”In the course of the renovation, Ashe became one of Taylor’s closest confidantes. “We still talk every day, about motherhood, or antiques, or how the chickens are doing,” she says.Speaking of those chickens, Schreiber—whose fear of poultry started as a child, when his hippie parents moved the family to a commune in Canada—seems to be successfully conquering this particular anxiety. He does have one rule, though: “No chickens in the house.” With an occasional exception, of course, for photo shoots.This story appears in the October issue. Never miss a story when you subscribe to AD.Not a subscriber? 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